Gardening is a hobby that sits at the centre of some of the most practical questions facing all of us across Canada: how we adapt to changing climate, how we support health and wellbeing, how we grow food, how we manage water and soil, and how we make better choices in our landscapes.
Gardening is the hobby that lets us respond to the world as it changes around us.
Gardening in a changing climate
Climate affects gardening through heat, drought, heavy rain, winter injury, pest pressure, disease, water use and plant survival. A longer growing season may create new possibilities, but it also brings new uncertainty.
As the climate changes, we need resources that help us navigate our evolving conditions.
Gardeners look for guidance that is practical, regional and clear about limits. What works in one part of Canada may fail in another. The Cultivation Network helps connect climate related horticultural research with the decisions gardeners make in their own landscapes.
Gardening, health and wellbeing
Gardens support our health and wellbeing. They get us outside, moving, breathing fresh air and spending time with living things. They offer sunlight, seasonal rhythm, observation, small tasks, physical work and a reason to keep returning outdoors.
There is growing interest in the relationship between soil, microbes, green space and human wellbeing. The direction is clear: gardens connect people with living systems in ways that can support mood, attention, activity and social connection.
The Cultivation Network supports this by making it possible for anybody to succeed at gardening, with guidance that is practical, evidence-based and adapted to local conditions
Gardening and food resilience
Food gardening builds our practical capacity. It gives us the skills to grow, harvest, share, preserve and understand food in a direct way.
When you grow food, you come to understand soil, weather, timing, patience, failure, abundance and limits. It connects us to seasonal cycles and helps households and communities take part in producing some of what we consume.
As growing conditions shift and food systems feel more fragile, those skills are more important. Gardeners need advice that reflects real climates, real soils, real pests, real seasons and real lives. The Cultivation Network supports that work by making reliable food gardening knowledge easier to find, easier to understand and easier to use across Canada.